Billons of bacteria live on our skin as part of our skin microbiome. Most of them are good and contribute to a healthy skin but some are known to create havoc. One of the bad ones that is undisputedly known to cause or aggravate acne symptoms are Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) bacteria.

​Bombi contains our proprietary active ingredient: Bombilysin, an antimicrobial peptide that is engineered in a way that it can only kill the unwanted C. acnes bacteria while leaving the good ones intact which is essential to keep your skin microbiome balanced.

To maintain overall homeostasis, the skin microbiome’s beneficial bacteria have to overpower pathogenic bacteria. When the pathogenic bacteria win out, it influences the skin’s surface and contributes to dermatological conditions such as acne, rosacea, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis.

This is where Bombi steps in!

Billons of bacteria live on our skin as part of our skin microbiome. Most of them are good and contribute to a healthy skin but some are known to create havoc. One of the bad ones that is undisputedly known to cause or aggravate acne symptoms are Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) bacteria.

​Bombi contains our proprietary active ingredient: Bombilysin, an antimicrobial peptide that is engineered in a way that it can only kill the unwanted C. acnes bacteria while leaving the good ones intact which is essential to keep your skin microbiome balanced.

To maintain overall homeostasis, the skin microbiome’s beneficial bacteria have to overpower pathogenic bacteria. When the pathogenic bacteria win out, it influences the skin’s surface and contributes to dermatological conditions such as acne, rosacea, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis.

This is where Bombi steps in!

Frogs and toads seem defenseless. They don’t have fangs, claws, or even hard shields against their predators. They often live in humid places, where fungi, bacteria, and viruses are everywhere looking for a good host to parasitize. It’s indeed no easy task to survive in such an environment.

Make no mistake though! We shouldn't be confused by their weak appearance. Amphibians have secret tricks up their sleeves.

One such magnificent creature goes by the name Bombina orientalis, an ancient oriental fire-bellied toad that served as our inspiration for engineering a targeted, species-specific bacteria-killing peptide to fight C. acnes. 

Bombinins (hence, our brand name Bombi) are the antimicrobial peptides that are secreted from their skin in order to ward off invading pathogens, such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses.

Don't worry though! We don't actually use these magnificent amphibians to our benefit, we just copied their mechanism and produce our peptide by ways of recombinant DNA technology, using plant-based amino acids to mimic the structure of Bombinins.

These are then further modified to shift them from being broad spectrum and non-specific, to highly specific towards C. acnes.

Pretty cool eh? Yeah, we thought so too!

Did you know that bacteria use brain-like bursts of electricity to communicate with each other? With electrical signals, bacterial cells can organise themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies as well. ​This phenomenon is called Quorum Sensing.

Bombi takes advantage of that mechanism and fuses a short specific sequence to our Bombinin peptide that only docks to the cell wall of C. acnes bacteria while being unresponsive to other bacteria. Much like a key-on-the-door principle, only much cooler. We called it Bombilysin.

Bombilysin works by attaching to the cell wall of only C. acnes bacteria where it punctures tiny little holes in their membrane. This causes these bacteria to fall apart, like a balloon punctured by a needle. In this process the good bacteria on the skin are left intact.

Bad news for C. acnes, but good news for your skin microbiome!

Traditional ways to fight C. acnes bacteria are mostly broad-spectrum antibiotic-based, which we have been using as if there was no biological cost to it. 

Hence, we now face a very high prevalence of antibiotic resistance to these antibiotics and unless you are using them in combination with benzoyl peroxide, they are largely unsuccessful.

Benzoyl peroxide on the other hand, does a phenomenal job at killing bacteria, including the good ones. It decimates the natural bacterial flora of the skin by flushing it with a strong oxidant. Because it is a strong oxidant, it will also generate free radicals which can break down the keratin and collagen fibers of your skin (main structural proteins), helping unblock the clogged pores (which is good) and it causes nonspecific peroxidation of C. acnes, making it bactericidal (also good).

But this reaction is nonspecific, and the free radicals will dry and damage the skin of the user just as they damage the bacteria of which many should be left intact. Last but not least, benzoyl peroxide is known to bleach your clothes.

Now, you can buy new clothes, but your skin has to last for many decades.